1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Existentialism-This is a modern philosophy that can be traced back to the Bible. It has a philosophy most relevant to education.
1.1.1. Generic Notions-It refers to individuals are placed on the earth and be able to make sense of the chaos they encounter. They are given the opportunity to make the right or wrong choice with the chance to make a difference.
1.1.2. Role of Teacher-Existentialists believe teachers should take risks and expose themselves to resistant students. Thus the role of the teacher is an intensely personal one that carries a tremendous amount of responsibility.
1.1.3. Goal of Education-Existentialists believe that education should focus on the needs of the individuals both cognitively and affectively. They also believe that education should stress individuality.
1.1.4. Curriculum-This focuses curriculum heavily biased towards humanities. Art, Drama and Music encourage personal interaction. This allows students to act however they feel when participating in these types of individual learning classes.
1.1.5. Methods of Instruction-Existentialist view learning as intensely personal. They believe the teacher is not only teaching but also learning as they teach the students.
1.1.6. Key Researchers-Jean Paul Satre was a key researcher in existentialism, allowing individuals to make their own decisions. Maxine Green was also key as she was known for her works "Wide Awake" for teachers to enable students. Martin Buber founded the I-thou approach where teachers leaned from students as they taught them.
2. Curriculum and Pedagogy
2.1. Curriculum Theory
2.1.1. Developmentalist Curriculum-This curriculum I chose because I believe we should be teaching the individual child rather than the needs of society.
2.2. Traditions
2.2.1. Mimetic Tradition-This tradition gives a central place to the transmission of factual knowledge from one person to another. This tradition uses more notes and lecture type of learning methods.
2.2.2. Transformative Tradition-This tradition means education should be used in an attempt to change children in anyway. It also doesn't look at knowledge learned as the sole purpose in education.
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Educational Outcomes
3.1.1. Class-Depending on a students background depends on their education experience. Higher classed students generally get a better education than the lower class.
3.1.2. Race-It is extremely difficult to separate race from class. The minorities of race are often the lower classed who receive a lower education level.
3.1.3. Gender-Gender in education has a higher impact after graduation. In the last 20 years, gender differences between men and women have been reduced.
3.2. Coleman Study
3.2.1. Round One-Where a student attends school has little affect on his or her cognitive growth or educational mobility.
3.2.2. Round Two-The differences that exist between public and private schools are statistically significant but in terms of significant differences in learning the results are negligible.
3.2.3. Conclusion-The Relationship between social class, race, and achievement is a complex one. Although higher social class is correlated with higher achievement, the degree to which this is due to factors inside or outside schools is the subject of significant research.
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. Defined-Unequal distribution of academic resources including school funding, experienced teachers, books and certain technologies.
4.2. Cultural Deprivation
4.2.1. Working class and minority class-Came without the intellectual and social skills necessary to do well in school.
4.2.2. Middle Class-Values hard work and initiation but delays immediate gratification for the future reward in education.
4.3. School Centered Explanations
4.3.1. School Financing-Public Schools are financed through a combination of local state and federal sources
4.3.2. Effective School Research-Research Shows student's differences are more important than school differences, then the teachers cannot be blame for lower achievement performance. On the other hand if school effects aren't great enough, schools and specifically teachers can do little to make a positivie difference.
4.3.3. Curriculum and Pedagogic Process-Much of this research looked at differences between schools in inner-city, lower socioeconomic neighborhoods to demonstrate that schools can make a difference in these communities. A number of theorists argue that there are significant differences between the culture and climate schools in lower and higher socioeconomic communities.
4.3.4. Curriculum and Ability Grouping-Different groups of students in some schools perform differently suggests that there ay be school characteristics affecting these outcomes. At the elementary level, students are split into reading groups and classes based off recommendations, and test scores. They all receive the same curriculum but it is at a different pace or with different expectations.
5. Educational Reform
5.1. School Based Reforms
5.1.1. School-Business Partnerships-During the 1980's business leaders became increasingly concerned that the nation's schools were not producing the kind of graduates needed for the economy. Some school business partnerships include scholarships for poor students to attend college.
5.1.2. School to Work-This is teaching or training for a particular career in a working environment. Also gives them valued credentials establishing benchmarks and developing education and standards that ensure proper education
5.2. Social reform
5.2.1. School Finance Reform-The court ruled in 1990 more funding was needed to provide an efficient education. Providing money and supplemental services, the educational level increased.
5.2.2. Full Service & Community-Full service schools focus on meeting student's and families educational, physical, psychological and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between the school and the community. Designed to target and improve at risk neighborhoods to prevent problems as well as support them.
6. Conflict Theory--Social conflict theory begins with the work of Karl Marx. His theory is that there are different social classes within any society that can be summed up into two groups: the wealthy vs. the poor. The theory is that the wealthy consistently use their power to oppress the poor. This is often looked at as why poorer students do not do as well as more wealthy students.
7. Politics of Education
7.1. Intellectual purpose- This is the purpose to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing and mathematics.
7.2. Political purpose- The political purpose of schooling are to inculcate allegiance to the existing political order.
7.3. Social Purpose-The social purposes of schooling are to help solve social problems; to work as one of many institutions and also ensures social cohesion.
7.4. Economic purpose-The economic purposes of schooling are to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
7.5. The role of the school is to provide students with adequate teachings suited to each ones needs for future advancement.
7.6. Unequal Performance-is based off students being placed in an incorrect classroom setting. Whether it is over or under representing special education services this equals to underperforming students.
7.7. Educational Problems-Most educational problems occur when a student needs more one on one learning time than a teacher can give. With the help of assistant teachers such as special ed teachers they can take a student one on one to make sure needs are met in the classroom and no one is left behind.
8. History of U.S. Eucation
8.1. Brown vs. Board of Education-This was a landmark United States Supreme Court which the court declared State laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
8.2. Democratic Liberal School- This involves progression evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all. Historians Cubberly, Curti, and Cremin represent this view. Cubberly and Curti portrayed the common school era as a victory for democratic movements and the first step in opening US education. For Cremlin, education History in the U.S. involved the expansion of opportunityand purpose.
9. Sociological Perspectives
9.1. Functionalism- is the perspective to which society consists of different but related parts, each of which serves a particular purpose. This means the completion of different tasks help create a larger task which is completed through the smaller ones.
9.2. Interactionalism-is a theoretical perspective in which society is thought to be a product of the everyday social interactions among millions of people. Instead of looking at a social system on a larger scale, such as the entire population of a country or third world countries, interactionism focuses on smaller-scale social interactions, such as the interactions between individuals or small social groups. This definition explains the outlook on school systems and social interactions on a daily basis.
9.3. Five Effects on Schooling-Knowledge & Attitudes-Employment-Student Peer Group and Alienation-Inadequate Schools-Gender
9.3.1. Knowledge and Attitudes-It is found that the higher the social class background of the student, the higher their achievement level. It is also noted that schools who are required certain classes to be taken with consistent discipline that the students achievement level increased.
9.3.2. Employment-Employment comes to mind when thinking about future jobs. How much education a student has an affect on employment upon graduation. Studies have shown the higher the education the more money one makes. In 2011 high school graduates on average made $32,552 while workers with a college degree made on average $53,976. Although some jobs are on the job training, those stats show how important higher education can be.
9.3.3. Student Peer Group and Alienation-In almost every school, students have that labelled crowd of so called "nerds" or "jocks". These two split groups can often lead to conflicts between the two groups. Absolute worse case it can lead to alienation of another group in the school system.
9.3.4. Inadequate Schools-Urban education in the past and the present has failed to teach the minorities and the poverty living students properly. Higher class schools like private and suburban schools have great educations compared to others. This effects the students based on the school they attend.
9.3.5. Gender-Gender has greatly impacted views of students. Women often start off by doing better than the men do in the classroom but at the tail end of high school often fall short. They begin to have lower self-esteems and simply don't care to do good anymore. This also goes with the message we are sending with most women working as teachers while the higher paying administration jobs are often all men.
10. Schools as Organizations
10.1. Major Stakeholders
10.1.1. State senators-Jeff Sessions & Richard Shelby
10.1.2. House of Representative-Will Ainsworth
10.1.3. State Superintendent- Michael Sentenance
10.1.4. State School Board Representative-Mary Scott Hunter
10.1.5. Local Superintendent-Bill Hopkins Jr.
10.1.6. Local School Board-Connie Goode Secretary of Superintendent- Deputy Superintendent- Edward Willis -Deputy Secretary- Sylvia Halbrooks